Danikah Chartier made Self-Portraits with Strangers to overcome her social anxiety. She'd look for people in public who appeared to be truly present and were practicing creativity in some way. She'd propose the project to them, and if they consented, she'd get to know them through conversation while she set up her camera and backdrop. The partners would stare into each other's eyes for a few moments to create a synergy. They would then collaborate in a meditative experience, such as hugging, hair braiding, or bird-watching, to further emotionally bind them and pose for the camera.

 

At the beginning of the project, Danikah intended to photograph herself with all people; unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the cis-gendered heterosexual men that she interacted with made unprompted romantic or sexual advances. After several of these interactions, Danikah decided only to make images with women and showcase the beauty of the intimacy cultivated in safe spaces.

 

Danikah is interested in demonstrating an ethical approach to art making. She believes every artist must experience the vulnerability of being a muse to understand deeply their responsibility in holding someone's trust and to be truly wise in their positions of power. Danikah gave her partners the pressure release cable to empower them with choice in the decisive moment. In doing so, the muse's agency, active participation, and equal collaboration are spotlighted in the image, and the myth of the passive female muse is deconstructed.

 

Self Portraits with Strangers is a body of work in conversation with screenwriter Celine Sciamma's film Portrait of a Lady on Fire, artist Marina Abramovic's performance The Artist is Present, curator Andrea Nelson's exhibition The New Women Behind the Camera, author Bell Hook's book All About Love, Photographer Alice Austen's oeuvre, and Film Theorist Laura Mulvey's essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.

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Self Portraits with Strangers was exhibited at the Museum at FIT May 16th-28th, 2023, as nine 8x8 framed inkjet prints.